The World Bids Farewell to Oliver Tree

Mega vaper, scooter legend and internet troll.

Those are just a few ways to describe Oliver Tree, an artist that’s anything but ordinary.

Oliver, who announced in June that he’ll be embarking on his final tour, made his last Southern California performance in Pomona this week at Fox Theater, and music fans got one last look at the ‘All That‘ indie-rapper.

The tour, dubbed the ‘Goodbye, Farewell’ Tour, will be running through 28 cities and wraps up in November.

As to why the Santa Cruz-based musician is calling it quits, Oliver stated in a hilarious interview with H3 Podcast, ‘I spent the last year… traveling out of a suit case and to be honest with you, it fucking sucks. I didn’t get in to making music to go promote this shit and travel non-stop.’

It’s very uncommon to see musicians that have been as successful as Oliver to call it quits with live shows before their debut album hits the shelves. In that same interview with H3, Oliver said he’s in the process of coming out with his debut studio project, which he’s been working on for 10 years.

As for the performance, it was nothing short of entertaining, triggering bittersweet happiness, laughs and tears.

Don’t let his look fool you—his fake bowl cut, overly exaggerated bell-bottom jeans and neon-colored windbreakers are a perfect representation of his through-the-roof sarcasm. And this performance only solidified the fact that he’s the master of trolling.

To open up the show, he was rolled out in a coffin by two of his associates in suits and donning the patented bowl cut to the tune of ‘Amazing Grace’ on the bagpipes.

As the casket opened, Oliver performed ‘Forget It,’ which got the tears flowing.

But of course, Oliver couldn’t had to get our eyes dry again; as the song ended, he jokingly said goodbye to the crowd as if the concert was over after one song.

Knowing Oliver, the show went on and he continued to perform despite having a broken foot and being in a wheelchair, which he says was a result of ‘doing his own stunts.’

Oliver performed just about every top song he’s had, including ‘Hurt,’ ‘Alien Boy‘ and my personal favorite, ‘All That,’ where he goes off with aggressive-sounding rhymes. As soon as he dropped ‘Fuck,’ a mosh pit ensued as well.

One notable performance from the night aside from Oliver came from Estonian rapper Tommy Cash.

Like Oliver Tree, his internet persona seems to be extremely sarcastic. Just take a look at his Instagram and oddly-directed music videos.

Cash’s sound can be described as genre bending: bass-heavy hip-hop with some trap and hard style sprinkled in to it. Weird combo? Sort of. Does it work? 100%. Give him a listen. My personal favorite has to be ‘Little Molly.‘

Overall, the show was a great send-off for Oliver Tree. I seriously can’t tell when he’s being sarcastic, and his persona combined with his musical talent made the concert worth while and entertaining.

Who knows if we’ll ever see Oliver Tree perform live in the flesh again. At the prime age of 26, I’d say it’s not out of the question for him to still ponder the possibility of coming out of retirement. But for now, we say goodbye to his legacy and can only live through his memory and music.

Contact the writer/photographer at brianaustinalvarado@gmail.com or @visualsnipe on Twitter and Instagram.